The National Federation of State High School Associations mandated in 2009 that all states back up the high school mound from 40 feet to the college distance of 43 feet by 2011, and the IHSA switched in 2010.

Scoring at state tournament games has gone up 50 percent since then, from an average of a combined 4.2 runs per game from 2006-09 to 6.5 runs from 2010-13.

“It’s definitely made the game more of a hitter’s game,” Freeport coach Jeff Sands said.

A fielder’s game, too.

“You’ve got to play better defense,” Sands said. “There are a lot more plays being made when you don’t have 20 strikeouts. It’s become more of a defensive game all the way around. You can’t win just because you have a great pitcher.”

The best local example of not needing defenders under the old 40-foot distance was Sarah Martz in 1999. The same year that future NIU pitcher Emily Granath threw a no-hitter in Harlem’s 1-0 Class AA state title win, Martz won four 1-0 games to take Eastland to the Class A title game without allowing a single run in Eastland’s first six playoff games.

“That 40 to 43 difference is huge,” said Grenoble, who replaced Sarah (Martz) Spears as Milledgeville’s coach last year. “When Florida made the switch (in 2003), strikeouts dropped from 9.6 a game all the way down to 4.2 at 43 feet. It makes it a batter’s game.

“The game is so much better. Back in the old days, if you had a pitcher, you could go a long way. Now you better hit the ball or you are going to lose games. Sarah Martz, she won every game with her rifle. At 43 feet, she would have needed a defense behind her. You better be ready to field the ball now. Even your best pitchers are going to get rocked on a bad night.”

During the 1999 state tournament, Martz struck out 54 batters in three games, including 27 in a 12-inning semifinal win, and allowed six hits in 26 2/3 innings.

“People couldn’t catch up to the fastest pitchers, but now they have an extra three feet to see it,” said Sarah (Martz) Spears, who went on to star at DePaul as both a hitter and a pitcher and coached Milledgeville to a third-place Class 1A finish in 2012. “There is also better technology making the bats explosive. The bats feel three times more powerful than when I played. The ball flies off the bat a ton faster.”

Spears said the extra defense even helps small-ball offenses.

“You’ve got an extra three feet to bunt the ball too,” she said. “When I was in high school, we tried to bunt toward the third baseman or first baseman, but now with the extra three feet, people bunt toward the pitcher or the first baseman.”

And even the pitchers who remain dominant do so in a different fashion.

“You have to have velocity, but you also have to have ball movement,” said Orangeville coach Lon Scheuerell, whose Broncos took eventual state champ Millegeville into extra innings in last year’s sectional final. “Last year, we had a pitcher who didn’t throw hard (Sam Buss), but who mixed in a changeup and was very efficient. She didn’t throw as hard as the average pither in the NUIC, but still won a lot of games for us. You have to move the ball around and mix speeds to be successful now.”

Another way softball has changed, at least in the NUIC, is the addition of fences in recent years.

“When I first started coaching, only one or two teams had a regulation 200-foot softball fence. I don’t think we had a kid hit one over the fence until my fourth or fifth season,” Scheuerell said. “They had very few opportunities to do so.

“Teams could back up their outfielders to 250 feet deep and catch a ball for an out that would be a homer on a real diamond because most teams didn’t have fences. There’s way more excitement now because kids are able to put one out. Almost every team in our conference now has a real fence.” Matt Trowbridge: 815-987-1383; mtrowbridge@rrstar.com; @matttrowbridge